


Changing Fate

by myownpersonaldemons



Series: Flame and Lionheart [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, What-If, not canon to Chasing the End
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2020-12-07 22:14:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20983235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myownpersonaldemons/pseuds/myownpersonaldemons
Summary: This is a 'What-If' scenario for my Chasing The End story where the war between monsters and humans never happened.





	1. Chapter 1

You heard the high-pitched scream that made your stomach drop and your hands drop the dish you were washing. Your heart beat heavily in your chest, but a soothing reassurance calmed you down almost instantly. It almost seemed to whisper _‘no one was harmed...it’s okay...we’re all okay’. _

Still, you wiped your hands off on your apron and hurried outside into the yard. Grillby was holding a small flaming child high above a smaller amphibian monster who was attempting to scale him to get to the child. Nindree was too busy cackling, getting a dry look from her mate who then proceeded to head over to scoop Undyne into their arms.

“What happened?” you asked, half amused as Grillby lowered Kindra slightly but still well out of reach of Undyne if she were to wriggle her way out of Cherja’s arms.

“Undyne wanted to show Kindra the new move that Gerson showed her! Cept, my little brat wanted ta practice ON your kid. Sorry for the intrusion, but the way! BUT! We’re basically family so DEAL WITH IT!” Nindree said with a big grin, and Cherja sighed exasperatedly, before swiping their long tail into Nindree’s legs and tripping her.

Undyne cackled, clapping her tiny hands at the sight of her mother sprawled on the floor.

“Apologiessss, Lionheart, Undyne was full of energy,” Cherja sighed, slithering closer to you.

You sighed softly, “No apologies needed, Cher. Which one screamed like that?”

Grillby jerked a thumb over to Undyne who was grinning proudly up at you from underneath her parents arm. You raised your eyebrow, “That was a loud scream, kiddo. Thought someone was hurt.”

“Gotta make em AFRAID!” Undyne shouted, pumping her fists upwards as best she could, but almost fell out of Cherja’s arms. Cherja sighed again before placing their daughter onto the dirt unceremoniously. Undyne grinned up at you, her red hair flopping into her face before she roughly shoved it out of the way. It looked like it had been braided at one point, but you knew Undyne hated the feeling of her hair braided unlike her mother.

“Undyne, do you wisssh to ssshow your Aunt them move inssstead?” Cherja asked, “No tesssting it on her, though.”

“Oh, no,” you waved a hand, “sweetie, you can practice on me, but first you gotta apologize to Kindra for scaring them.”

Undyne puffed out her cheeks before sighing dramatically and walking over to your SOULmate. Grillby bent down to one knee and Undyne held out a webbed hand towards Kindra, who had returned to her more human-esque appearance. Kindra stared at the hand before peering up at her father. Only when he nodded did she reach out and accept the hand shake.

“Sorry for scaring you...or whatever,” Undyne mumbled, before immediately darting back over to you and grabbing at your apron. “NOW?”

You huffed out a laugh, “sure, kid.”

Undyne led you a bit away from the house to the ‘sparring area’ as Nindree had declared it one day when she had tackled you to the ground one day. It had been ten years since you last had to worry about keeping your fighting skills sharp. The peace treaty King Riagol made with the human king had worked, thankfully.

Your best friend’s daughter was nearly fifteen and sometimes forgot that Halflings didn’t mature as fast as Monsters did, and sometimes couldn’t understand why your four year old wasn’t like her. Speaking of, you glanced over at Kindra, sending out a comforting pulse and she returned a loving one that almost made you start crying in the sparring ring.

You’d never thought you would ever have this life. A husband, a daughter...Gods, you didn’t even think you’d have friends. There had been a point where you had refused to look to the future, every day was one after the next because all you saw when you looked into the future was death, despair, and war. This wasn’t the future you had ever envisioned...but it was a future you were grateful for.

Undyne didn’t let you dwell on your thoughts for long at all before she was pulling you into an encounter. You skipped your turn by checking her and giggling at the description.

*_Wants to get strong enough to suplex a BOULDER!_

When it was her turn, you could see her face screw up in concentration focusing on her hand before a spear fizzled into existence. Undyne grinned wickedly at it before glancing over at her parents with excitement and then turned back towards you. With even more concentration she threw the spear towards your SOUL. You already knew there was no harmful intent in the blow, but it _was_ your SOUL, so you shifted it out of the way of the spear at the last second.

When it was your turn, you checked her again and saw that the description had changed to:

*WILL suplex a boulder one day!

Your smile widened before you allowed her to end the encounter.

“One day I’ll be able to bet anyone in a fight!” Undyne shouted in promise before running towards Nindree and tackling her back to the ground. You snorted as the two began to rough house on the ground, shouts of praise and encouragement from Nindree and cackles and laughter from Undyne filled the small clearing that you and Grillby had made your home.

Cherja smiled fondly at the image before they turned back towards you, “Thank you...that isss all we came by for....ssshe wasss quite excccited. We ssshall get out of your hair, Gasster and Viv invited usss over for lunch.”

“OH! RIGHT!” Nindree sprung to her feet, Undyne tucked under her arm giggling, “Viv wanted me to tell you that she and that old fart think that their egg’s gunna hatch soon. Sans has been talkin’ bout nothing else.”

You smiled, “I can’t wait to meet Papyrus.”

“NEITHER CAN I!” Undyne shouted, “Sans doesn’t wanna rough house with me, and Ra’s too small still.”

“Anywaysss, let’sss go,” Cherja said, placing a hand on Nindree’s back, “We’re intruding.”

“Pah, what’s with you and Grillbz always telling me I’m intruding,” Nindree grumbled, but allowed her mate to guide her away after giving you a one armed hug, and punching Grillby’s shoulder.

“...if you stopped....we wouldn’t tell you...” Grillby shot back, grinning at her and giving her a lighter punch back. You waved, calling out promises to see them soon, and watched as they continued down the path back towards the capital. Once they were out of sight, you twirled towards your family and pulled Kindra out of Grillby’s arms.

“Well, wasn’t that an exciting morning,” you said kissing her nose, then added as you glanced at her small stripped dress, “good thing I enchanted your clothes to not burn. Combustible baby.”

Kindra smiled at you, returning the kiss on your nose with a bit too much pressure and enthusiasm. She giggled at you as you scrunched up your nose slightly. Grillby placed a kiss to her temple which made her giggle more, and then pat her father’s cheeks happily. He responded by blowing some sparks lightly at her, which made her giggle even harder as they dusted across her cheeks.

“What were you two up to?” you asked, nudging Grillby’s stomach with your elbow, “Besides lighting my daughter on fire.”

“I did it!” Kindra announced loudly, before bursting into flames in your arms. Grillby yanked her out of your arms immediately, and you felt the slight panic in his face but you simply laughed.

“Look at you! Have you been practising?” you asked, subtly reaching over to Grillby to soothe his worries. You both knew that she’d would have to have intent to harm you, but she also wasn’t able to stop things from catching on fire. Your clothes were not enchanted against fire...yet. You added that to your mental checklist.

“Yeah! With Papa!” Kindra chirrped happily, before kissing Grillby’s cheek and the wriggling in his arms. “I wanna go!”

“....where?” Grillby asked, but relented.

“Play with frogs!” Kindra announced, pointing towards the pond.

Grillby tensed slightly, and you rested your hand against his back.

“Just don’t burst into flames near the water, okay?” you said smiling down at her, “It makes Papa nervous.”

“Okay! I won’t!” Kindra said, beaming at the two of you before spinning around and skipping towards the pond.

Grillby let out a sigh of smoke this time and looked down at you before back at his daughter. You stepped closer and wrapped your arms around his waist. Immediately, his arms curled around you, but his eyes never left Kindra as she splashed in the pond and then began to crouch down to try to find some frogs.

Sometimes you swore he neared overprotective when it came to Kindra, but then again he had never been around Halfling children. All he knew was that fire elementals didn’t mix with water, and his daughter, who even if she was half-human, was half-fire elemental. The first time he had walked in on you bathing with her, he had nearly fainted.

Neither of you were going to dunk her into water when she was in her flame form...but she was old enough that she had control over switching back forth now.

You kissed the highest point on Grillby that you could, which was his chest, before releasing him. “Okay, crisis diverted, I’m going to finish up my morning chores. Are you heading to the tavern soon?”

He nodded, bending down to kiss the top of your head. Fingers gently tracing your jaw before he straightened, and moved closer to the pond. You could feel the worry that he was trying to tamp down, but you sent a soothing flow similar to the one he had just sent you, and watched as his shoulder relaxed ever so slightly.

Grillby had retired from the Royal Guard a few years back, before the two of you had even decided to have Kindra. Shortly after he had opened Home’s first tavern. He was tired of fighting, and he had found that he loved cooking and learning new recipes. Your cookbook, well it was his now too, was constantly on the counter with him scrawling the recipes that he made into it in his language. It was now a mixture of the strange Mage written language, and the Monster written language. Plus one scribbled recipe that Kindra had written for tea that Gerson had made for her.

Oh! Right, Gerson was in the city. He’d probably be at the tavern when Grillby went to open it. You’d probably swing by with Kindra if Gerson didn’t pop by your farmstead first.

If you went into the city, you’d probably pay a visit to Toriel and Asgore and see how their Egg was doing. Asriel was taking a while to hatch, but neither were worried, each Egg took its own sweet time to hatch. Riagol was a mess waiting for his grandchild, however, and complained that he would Dust before they hatched. Then what? He’d never get to meet his grandchild.

You had been on the end of a few of those rants, normally while you and Gaster were giving him an update on the latest SOUL research. Gaster had quite the humor once you got to know him...and now you didn’t have to guess why him and Vivaldi were SOULmates.

With that thought, you glanced over your shoulder to see Grillby ushering Kindra back towards the house. He gave you both kisses before heading out to the city to his day job.

The rest of the day sped by, as they all seemed to do now. You taught Kindra about human and monster history, you taught her some more magic tricks (small things to help her improve her control), and got her ‘help’ in the farm. Just before dinner, you took her into town to her father’s tavern, where she and Gerson chattered the night away, and you joked with Vivaldi and Gaster while Sans chuckled away holding onto his baby brother’s egg.

Kindra eventually got tired so you gave Gerson a kiss on the cheek, said goodbye to Viv and Gaster, and then encouraged Kindra to give everyone good night hugs. She did. Every single monster in the tavern. Who all cooed and aww’d at the little Halfling who was sleepily moving from Monster to Monster. You smiled and felt Grillby’s SOUL flare with affection.

It wasn’t a long walk back to the farmstead, and you sang Kindra to sleep along the way. Her tiny head tucked against your shoulder, one arm limp and the other loosely holding onto the neckline of your tunic. You quietly opened her bedroom door and slowly placed her into her bed. She stirred slightly, but settled quickly as you pulled her blanket up.

For a moment, you stayed with her, watching her chest rise and fall and her eyelids flutter with dreams. Memories floated to the surface, and you wiped a few tears from your cheeks before you stood up and left her to her slumber.

You entered your own bedroom and stripped down before pulling on your nightwear and slipping into bed. Grillby’s schedule varied, he normally stayed until the last patron left...and thankfully the monsters were kind enough to not eat up too much of the night. Still, sometimes you missed falling asleep with him in the bed beside you. Especially during the winters.

You were awoken by a warm arm wrapping around your waist and a strong chest pressing against your back. A soft kiss on your shoulder was followed by a trail up your neck, making a shiver roll down your spine that had nothing to do with the temperature. You gently stroked the arm around your waist and nestled back into Grillby's embrace.

“I love you,” you whispered, tilting your head so you could see him better.

“...and I, you,” he replied back just as softly. “...never thought I’d get this.”

“Me either,” you said before shifting in his arms so you were chest to chest, “I don’t know where we’d be if the war-“

He silenced you with a kiss, just a quick one, before pressing his forehead against yours. “...don’t think about that...when I do....it makes my SOUL hurt.”

You nod, foreheads brushing against each other’s lightly. “I know,” you run your hands up his chest before slipping them around his neck to pull him into another kiss. This one more heated. He wasted no time before pulling you on top of him and trailing his hands up and down your thighs. You poured all your love and affection for him through your SOULbond and you felt him shudder beneath you.

There wasn’t a day that went by that you didn’t thank the Gods that the war never happened.

You didn’t want to imagine what your life would’ve been like if it did.


	2. Family Approval

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that this is a spoiler for Chasing The End, specifically the Reader's backstory as of Chapter 22. So, read on if you are caught up or you aren't afraid of spoilers. (Though tbh it probably will make a lot more sense if you read the main story)
> 
> This isn't canon either.
> 
> So, someone, specifically HolySticks, requested that I write a scene where Chief and Druhim meet Grillby. Which can _only_ happen if they hadn't been both killed by the Grandmaster. This means this chapter is based off two what if's. 1) What if the Human King had died, and his less racist son took over, and 2) What if Druhim and Chief met Grillby how would they react to him?

You nervously played with a loose string on your tunic. This was the first time you had left your village since you were born. Da had told you that it was pretty dangerous for a Halfling, but ever since the old human King had died and his son had taken over, and the peace treaty between monsters and humans had been signed, you were able to leave the village without as much worry.

Plus, you had full control over your powers, and if you were to be attacked, the other party stood no chance against you.

A gentle hand rested over top of your fidgeting hands, and you met your Da’s eyes. They were warm as always, and he leaned over and gently bumped his forehead against yours. “Calm yourself, it’s fine. You know the Dreemurr family, and monsters would do nothing to harm you.”

“I know,” you said instantly, eyes flickering ahead towards the massive city gates. “I just…there’s this feeling in my chest that wants me to go to the City…but I also just want to go home.”

His eyebrows rose slightly, and then a sly smile slid onto his face, “Is it a…tugging feeling?”

You hesitated, before nodding and he clapped his hands together excitedly. “I called it,” he trilled, his voice a sing-song.

“Called what?” you asked, voice carefully emotionless, but you were giving him the stink-eye. Da always did have a way of knowing peculiar things, but he never shared how. Just winked and said it was just an instinct to know things. Like when you were small, and he’d catch you before you were even aware you were falling. Or he’d be reading but so absorbed in his book that you’d think he wasn’t paying attention, but then Papa would knock something over with his giant form, and Da would merely shift to catch it before it hit the floor.

“Have I taught you nothing?” Da retorted, a hand clutching at his chest, “What do you feel in your SOUL?”

You hesitated, hand reaching up to touch your chest as well. It was tugging, trying to…go somewhere towards the City. You closed your eyes and focused entirely on your chest. A second later, you felt almost like a thin, imperceivable magic stretching forth from your SOUL towards the city. “A connection?”

“YES!” Da roared, and then swung open the carriage door and leaned out, “DRU!!!! I called it! She’s got a SOULmate in the CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

You covered your face with one hand and yanked at your father’s tunic with the other. The last thing either of you needed was for a bump in the road to send him sprawling face-first into the dirt when you were going to meet with the Royal family.

Papa’s voice was loud and rambunctious as well as he hurried up to walk closer to the cart. His form was way too large to fit into the carriage, and while you felt terrible he had shrugged and reminded you that he doesn’t tire as humans do. The two men chattered back and forth about their expectations, you holding on to keep Da from falling out, especially when both of his hands left the carriage to gesture exaggeratedly.

You swore they did this just to see your protective nature.

Thankfully, after a particularly nasty bump, Papa gave Da a light nudge, and he settled back fully into the carriage.

“We’re almost there! After we meet with the King and Queen, we’ll go and see if we can find your SOULmate!” Papa insisted with a big grin on his rocky face; you were surprised he hadn’t started crying about how his baby girl was grown up. You just covered your face with both of your hands and let out an embarrassed noise.

“What if I don’t want to meet them?” you blurted out, startling your parents into silence.

Da’s hand rested on your back, rubbing it gently. “Why not?”

“I just!” you dropped your hands, “I’m going to be the next Chief of our village, which is a week’s journey from the capital. If they _live _in the capital…that means they have family, right? Or if they’re just visiting, that could mean they live further out from the capital! Stars, they could even be a sea monster, and they’re beyond the City in the sea. I won’t abandon my people for someone I don’t even know, and I won’t expect them to do the same either.”

Papa disappeared from the window, and a second later was on the opposite side of the carriage. He reached in through the window and gently stroked your cheek, “My little moon, do not give up on your SOULmate based on what-ifs…if that were the case we would have never had you. Mages summoned me, and I hated them for eons for their enslavement of my people. Yet…if I had held onto my beliefs that things couldn’t be different, I would have never given your father a chance. We would have never created our village for those like us, and we wouldn’t have had _you_. You do not need to make a decision the second you see them, and you should not view love as abandoning all that you hold dear. They will not ask you to do that. They will want you to be happy.”

“A SOULmate does not define you,” Da added, “and if you don’t want to meet your SOULmate, I’ll fight em off if they bother you.”

You snorted, and Papa made an angry sound. “You will NOT!”

“Will too,” Da stuck his tongue out, “Watch me, rock man.”

“You are lucky I love you,” Papa sighed, a sound like rocks tearing. “Ah! We’re here!”

You peeked out the window to see large walls, and you felt a bit of distaste for that. You knew they were built when there was more of a worry about humanity invading the monster kingdom, but you never liked walls. They were too….restrictive. The large gates were imposing as well, and you slowly shifted back into the carriage and returned to fiddling with the loose string.

This was so different than in the village.

Sooner than you would’ve liked, the carriage pulled to a stop and Papa opened the door, helping Da get down from the carriage.

“Chief!” Riagol boomed, “It has been too long, my old friend!”

“It has! I see your wife all the time because someone apparently doesn’t like the trip!” Da said, a slight barb at the fact that Queen Vesua visited much more often. You’d…actually, now that you think about it had seen Riagol much more often when you were still a child. His visits started to dwindle once the peace treaty was signed, and you hadn’t seen him since you had officially shed your stripes.

Papa gestured towards you, an encouraging look on his face. Oh. Right. You….probably had to get out of the carriage too. Why were you so nervous all of a sudden? You exhaled and accepted Papa’s hand and climbed out of the carriage.

Asgore called your name immediately, and you grinned at the prince. It’d been a while since you had seen him as well, not as long as it had been since Riagol had visited, but long enough. “Look at you!” he chirped, “No stripes in sight!”

The nervousness faded away instantly in light of familiarity, “It’s been years since I wore stripes,” you taunted back, “Can’t be bothered to visit?”

He looked properly chastised before both you and Da got gently thwaps upside the head by Druhim. “Mind yourselves!” he ordered, “They visit us more often than we have ever visited them.”

“Sorry,” you and Da blurted out at the same time, causing the royal family to giggle at your antics.

“Where’s Gerson?” you asked next, eyes flashing quickly around, but you saw no sign of the turtle monster. A flash of worry darted through you; he was super old even when you were a child…surely they would’ve told you if he dusted?

“Retired,” Queen Vesua spoke up, a gentle smile on her face, “He takes to travelling the kingdom now, collecting trinkets and baubles and stories.”

Riagol nodded, “Speaking of, he handpicked our new Captain of the Guard. Captain Nindree,” he waved towards a guard standing slightly behind them in full armour. The guard stepped forward and removed their helmet, revealing a sea monster. That surprised you. Sea monsters typically did not stray too far from the ocean…and you would have never thought one would become the Captain of the Guard for King Riagol.

Nindree gave a slight bow, giving you a sharp smile, “It’s an honour to meet you.”

You felt a check, and your eyebrow quirked upwards. A check without entering into an encounter? Strange.

“Honor is all ours,” Da said smoothly.

Everything blurred by after that, and soon you found yourself bored and trailing behind the others as they discussed everything from politics to the weather. Nindree was walking beside you, their stance professional, and they said nothing.

Boring.

Boring.

Bored.

You glanced up at them, then behind them, “What’s that?” you asked, gesturing towards a random object. Nindree frowned slightly and turned, and when they turned back, you were no longer there.

You heard the muffled, indignant shout of _“HEY!” _making you stifle a giggle from inside the castle walls. If they had been assigned to be your guard, you might’ve felt bad about escaping, but they weren’t so you didn’t. Though Da would probably give you a stern talking-to later before giving you a high-five when Papa wasn’t looking. That would be a problem for later you to deal with.

You also could deal with your father’s trying to get you to find your SOULmate later.

You wanted to explore the castle without listening to boring talk about politics.

This place was so different from your village that it was astounding. Stars, the castle alone was bigger than your small village. In all honesty, the village could’ve fit inside the courtyard and had wriggle room. It made you giddy at the idea of exploration, so you took off at a gentle pace.

You felt the vibrations of different monsters walking around the halls, every so often you caught the scent of the sea breeze through an open window or door. Monsters eyed you almost cautiously when they first saw you. Still, it quickly turned to curiosity when you sent a calming pulse towards them to assure them that you were just curiously exploring.

Eventually, you felt vibrations of someone running before the jangle of metal armour and you turned to see Nindree charging down the hallway at you.

“GET BACK HERE, PUNK!”

Adrenaline spiked through your body, and you turned and bumped straight into someone else.

You staggered back, surprised that someone had snuck up on you and stared at a solid breastplate before slowly looking up. Your SOUL thumped in your chest, and you felt all the adrenaline disappear from you instantly as your gazes locked on each other. It was like time slowed down.

Had you been walking blindly following your SOUL without noticing it? Is that why you didn’t notice him behind you?

You vaguely heard Nindree skidding to a stop behind you, felt it more than you heard it.

Then you realized you were staring at the fire elemental, and you made an embarrassing noise, threw yourself at the wall and slipped through it to the other side. A muffled ‘_STOP DOING THAT!’ _filtered through the wall, but you were already heading back to where your parents were. You would like to say you had walked back calmly, but your face was hot, and you felt embarrassed, and you practically ran. You saw your Papa first, hard not to with his size, and you climbed onto his back, easily camouflaging yourself into his rocks.

He shifted slightly, but said nothing about your presence, just continue chattering to the others as if you weren’t there.

You were so embarrassed.

Why were you so embarrassed?

Because you were staring at your SOULmate and you didn’t say anything.

So smooth.

Then you ran like a little baby.

Smooth.

Though you had to admit that Nindree’s frustration amused you.

After the embarrassment cooled from your face, you climbed down and allowed your skin to shed the rocky look and stepped around Papa, and he placed a hand on your head and ruffled your hair. “Ah! My little moon, there you are! Causing trouble already, eh? Did the Captain and her second in command find you?”

“…yes,” you admitted, and felt your cheeks heat up again.

Riagol had an amused look on his face, before asking, “Did you disappear on her again?”

“I don’t disappear. I just….move through the rocks,” you explained, gesturing towards the stone wall. Papa laughed, patting your head.

“Old family trick, they’ll catch up eventually.”

Eventually was at dinner when Riagol guided the group into the dining hall, which was bigger than your house, and everyone sat down to eat when Nindree burst into the room with that fire elemental from earlier, panting. “I can’t find that Halfling, Riagol! She’s so!!! Slippery!”

The fire elemental nudged Nindree’s shoulder and gestured at you.

Nindree went still, her eyes locking onto yours. You had half the mind to dart from your chair, but instead, you raised your hand and wiggled your fingers at her instead. She pointed a finger at you, “HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WITH THE OTHERS FOR?????”

“For a few hours,” Vesua giggled, “Riagol forgot to inform you of her return.”

Nindree gestured wildly, making disbelieving noises before slapping her hands onto her face. The elemental whispered something to her, and she whirled around at him and jabbed a finger into his chest. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU _KNEW?_ You let me run around worrying about her safety all day, and you KNEW????”

The fire elemental nodded, murmuring something, and Nindree threw her hands into the air.

“UNBELIEVABLE!”

Nindree marched out of the room, and a second later, the fire elemental bowed, caught your eye before leaving.

You felt bad now, she was worried for you, and you had just run off to do your own thing. So, after dinner, you asked Riagol where Nindree would most likely be, and you headed off with Papa to find her. Well, you had gone alone, but Papa had quickly caught up to you and informed you that you were too much of a ‘little monkey’ to be trusted to apologize and not further aggravate Nindree. That made you gasp in indignation.

You were not!

Okay, you were.

But you could apologize.

It didn’t take long to find them, Riagol knew his guard’s routine down pat, and you arrived at the spot he told you mere moments before the two of them strode around the corner.

You felt your cheeks heat up when your eyes met the fire elementals, and your SOUL thumped against your ribs once again. Papa shifted, looking down at you, and you knew then he _knew_. Oh. This was going to be embarrassing…you had half the mind to just camouflage yourself again to your father, but instead, you swallowed down that feeling of wanting to run and hide and instead tore your gaze from the elemental to look over at Nindree.

She huffed slightly, but you stepped forward, “I’m sorry for making you worry by disappearing on you twice.”

Her eyebrows rose, “Oh, yeah?”

You nodded, you weren’t about to explain why you needed to get away from others and be by yourself. Hopefully, she took your apology and didn’t ask a question. Instead, you saw a wicked grin stretch over her face, and she clapped her second in command on the back, “Well! I accept your apology! AND! To ensure that I’m not worried about your safety any longer! Grillby, here will be your escort for the rest of your stay.”

Both you _and _Grillby recoiled slightly.

“I don’t need an escort!” you blurted out, face heating up more, “I’m not a child.”

“_Nindree, she’s stronger than any monster I’m sure she doesn’t require an escort,_” Grillby spoke, voice quiet.

“_Thank you!”_ you responded in the elemental language easily, gesturing towards Grillby. He seemed surprised that you knew the language, or perhaps that you could speak it without being a full elemental yourself. Either way, you glanced up at Papa when he made an excited noise.

“No, no, no! I think you do!” Papa crowed, a large hand giving you a gentle shove forward. “I like him!”

You made a strangled noise of embarrassment, “Then he can escort you around!”

“I knew his mother! She was lovely!” Papa said, completely ignoring you, “Nindree! Can you escort me back to the others? I need to inform Chief that our little moon won’t be getting into any more trouble.”

Nindree cackled, darting over, and before you could even blink, the two were striding quickly away. You glared after them, and added loudly, “JUST FOR THAT I AM GOING TO GET INTO SO MUCH TROUBLE.”

A soft chuckle came from behind you, and you hesitantly turned around, face on fire as you glanced up at him. “H…Hello,” you said softly.

“Hello,” he responded just as softly, before offering his hand towards you in a very human greeting, “I’m sorry for Nindree, not even properly introducing us before running off. I’m Grillby.”

You said your name quietly and placed your hand in his. He bent down and pressed his lips to your knuckles and your face heated up even more. However, there was a soothing pulse from his SOUL that made the anxiety in yours diminish almost entirely. You smiled up at him finally, and the smile he gave you in return stole your breath away.

“We should…we should get back to the others,” you murmured, unable to stop staring at his smile.

“We should,” he responded easily and fell into silence as he guided you back to the others.

The couple of weeks you spent at the capital flew past, and while you _knew _that Grillby was your SOULmate, neither of you mentioned it. When you departed, he kissed your knuckles again and wished you safe travels, and you thanked him and got into the carriage with no fanfare.

Much to the displeasure of your Papa.

When you got home, you overhead your parents talking after you had gone to bed.

“But they are meant to be together,” Papa argued quietly, “Yet they did nothing to encourage the SOULbond and kept each other at a distance.”

“Grillby’s parents were both killed by humans,” Da replied softly, “I cannot speak for the monster but…I could understand if he still held a grudge against humans. Our daughter is half-human…and looks fully human. That kind of scar might never heal enough for them to be together.”

“I was summoned by humans! I killed for humans! I watched as my brethren’s SOULs were broken till they were nothing but empty shells by humans,” Papa replied, his voice rising, “Love is love! It should not matter if she is flesh and blood, and he is flames and brimstone.”

Da responded quietly, too quiet for you to hear in your bed.

“I want her to be happy,” Papa said softly, “...and I agree she’s happiest here…so I won’t bring it up again.”

“She’ll find her happiness, trust me, Druhim.”

“Always, my love.”

You had fallen asleep with a heaviness in your chest.

Over the next four years, you saw Grillby more and more often. Whether it was during your occasional trip to the capital or him coming with the Queen or King to visit the village, he was quiet and seemed to not wish to further conversations with you. He appeared relatively aloof and distant as well, which was mildly upsetting, so you’d taken to avoiding him when it came to him coming to the village — explained easily to your father’s as you did find yourself getting overwhelmed easier by the number of people the Queen brought with her and took to escaping to your favourite spot in the forest instead.

Not that you’d admit you were avoiding Grillby.

You sighed, staring down at the rock in your hands that you had been shaping for the past hour. Maybe you should just talk to Grillby? Perhaps tell him that you weren’t interested in having a SOULmate? That you didn’t want to cause any…issues with him being part of the royal guard and you being the future chief of your village. Both of you had bigger things to worry about.

Yet…everytime, he smiled at you, or spoke quietly to you, your SOUL would sing.

Your fingers clutched at your chest, and you closed your eyes.

Speaking of Grillby…

You looked over to see him a bit awkwardly moving through the forest towards you, his eyes focused on the ground in front of him as he maneuvered carefully over branches and through the thick foliage. Finally, he entered the small clearing you’d claimed as your spot, and his eyes drifted slowly over it. Taking in the mossy stones, the fallen log that was growing mushrooms right now, and you sitting on the moss with your shoes off, holding a stone the size of his head that was still in the rough stages of creation. You were admittedly attempting to make it look like your Papa, which was harder than you thought.

Grillby said your name, and then paused awkwardly, “Forgive me if you wish to be alone.”

You almost said, ‘I do,’ but instead, you shook your head, “It’s alright.”

Because it was.

Even if you wanted to tell him otherwise, you felt lighter and calmer when he was around. After all these years, the embarrassment around him had fallen off completely, and you were content to be around him. As if anything you do, he would understand and wouldn’t judge you harshly for anything you did or say. Grillby nodded, taking a step further into the clearing. You gestured beside you vaguely in open invitation to sit next to you before you returned to shaping the stone.

Grillby sat down quietly next to you, watching you as you focused your magic through the stone.

It was…nice sitting silently next to him. He didn’t expect you to speak and nor did you expect him to say anything. He didn’t seem upset that you weren’t focusing on him either, and eventually, you noticed out the corner of your eye that he was idly tossing a small flame from hand to hand. You paused in your own work to watch him. There was a flash of blue fire in his face before the small flame disappeared.

“Oh,” you hummed sadly, making him blush a bit more.

Your eyes flicked up to his, and you couldn’t look away.

The blush returned to his flames, and you reached over to pat at his arm gently. Sending out a pulse of comforting intent and he relaxed.

Looking at him, alone in your favourite clearing, you were suddenly hit with a wave of realization. For the past four years, you had assumed that he was intentionally being distant with you and keeping you at arm's length. Yet…he sought you out just to sit by your side and seemed embarrassed when you caught him playing with a teeny flame. You were so used to monsters being very open with their emotions that you assumed that he didn’t like you because he wasn’t open about his feelings.

You hardly knew anything about him, and you were ready to brush aside the magic connection you had with him.

Stars, if you were supposed to be his SOULmate, shouldn’t you have realized that sooner?

“I’m sorry,” you blurted out, startling him.

“…why?” he asked

“I…” you started but paused. How could you put it in words without upsetting him? Would you even upset him? You knew nothing about him! With a sigh, you placed aside your rock, “I…know that we’re SOULmates…but I haven’t been trying to get to know you because I thought you didn’t want to be SOULmates with me…among other reasons. I…I was taught not to assume things about other beings, but here I am, assuming. I don’t want to just assume your feelings on anything, so…what is your opinion on us being SOULmates?”

Grillby went silent for a while, head tilted towards you as he stared at you. You began fidgeting, which seemed to snap him out of his thoughts.

“In the beginning yes, I didn’t want to be your SOULmate,” he admitted quietly, and a sharp pain stabbed into your chest, and he quickly took your hand in his own, “in the beginning,” he repeated a bit firmer, “Then I got to know you…and things changed, but you kept your distance, so I assumed you wished not to be mated with me, so I gave you your space.”

“What changed?” you asked quietly, staring at your joined hands. “Today, why did you come to find me today?”

Grillby blew out some sparks in a sigh, and your eyes lit up at sight. That was adorable.

“Druhim cornered me and told me to go spend time with you, and when I said that you clearly didn’t want our connection…he may have…gotten angry,” Grillby said, eyes shifting away from you, “Called both of us ‘dumber than rocks.’”

You let out a soft laugh and were rewarded with his flames brightening slightly. “He’d know about being dumber than rocks,” you joked, and he gave a soft chuckle.

“So would we apparently…”

You fell into silent at that, and then glanced up at him. You had to say it.

“My place is here with the other Halflings.”

That didn’t seem to shock him; he just nodded, “I understand.”

“Now what?” you asked quietly, “Your place is in the capital.”

“For now,” Grillby agreed, “…but if you are suggesting that a week's journey would stop me from wishing to be yours…then we must get more acquainted.”

You blushed brilliantly at that, “I-I assumed-“

He chuckled when you cut yourself off, then raised your joined hands and kissed your knuckles. “We should stop assuming what the other wishes? Do you wish to strengthen this bond?”

You hesitated, …but then nodded, “I do…”

“Then distance is no issue,” he said softly.

It was like a dam broke then, and you felt that magical tether you had barely noticed four years ago strengthen to the point where you could feel tiny emotional pulses ripple through the connection. His eyes widened slowly.

“That’s…not supposed to be that strong unless we’re…bonded,” he admitted quietly, eyes meeting yours.

“I don’t know anything about SOULbonds?” you replied dumbly, staring at his chest as if you could see his SOUL. “Maybe…we should ask my fathers?”

He was hesitant, and you snickered, “What? Are you afraid of Druhim now? Did he scare you that much?”

“No,” Grillby replied smoothly, “I am more worried about your other father, the Chief.”

You stood up then, taking his other hand and pulling him to his feet. “Da would’ve told you if he didn’t like you. He’s not one to keep quiet about not liking someone. We went to meet with the new human King two years ago, and he ripped the…oh what was his stupid title?...the Grandmaster? A new one.”

Grillby’s flames shot slightly higher, and concern rolled off of him. “The Grandmaster is not one to take slights lightly…”

You squeezed both of his hands, “The human King reduced the power the Citadel holds and no longer takes counsel with the Grandmaster. If the Grandmaster even lifts a finger towards a Monster, he will be arrested and tried for treason. We would’ve _never_ gone to the human Kingdom if we weren’t one hundred percent sure that we were safe.”

That seemed to relieve him slightly, and you smiled up at him. You weren’t even going to mention that your father had been two steps away from ending the Grandmaster’s life if the King hadn’t stepped in to remind the Grandmaster to watch his tongue in front of honoured guests of the Kingdom. Your father…_hated_ the Grandmaster for some personal reason that you had never been able to get him to tell you about. Something about ‘fate being changed’ or something.

You led Grillby back to the village, taking a path that was much clearer and less direct but easier and quicker than trudging through the foliage. You could fell a touch of embarrassment flow through the connection, and a small smile stretched over your face. So much could’ve been different if you had just spoken to Grillby about this long ago.

Papa’s eyes brightened as he saw your intertwined hands, and he spun Da around instantly to look at you and Grillby.

“Ah, finally,” Da said with a smile, gesturing for you both to come closer. “I am glad you finally decided to admit your intentions towards my daughter, you little elemental.”

Your face reddened in shocked embarrassment, and instead of admonishing him like you wanted, you blurted out, “He’s three feet taller than you? You’re little.”

Da’s eyes narrowed in on you, and he gently patted your Papa’s arm. IN a fluid motion, Papa scooped up Da and placed him on his shoulders. You stared up at the Chief of your village with a blank look. “I am glad you finally decided to admit your intentions towards my daughter, you little elemental.”

“Get off of his shoulders!” you squeaked, “What are you doing?”

“I hope you learned your lesson about not speaking to each other,” Da continued on as if he didn’t hear you, “Druhim, is this how you see the world all the time? Stars be damned; this is so cool.”

“Get off of Papa!” you ordered, grabbing at his foot and tugging.

“I can’t hear you from up here,” Da thundered, “I’m too tall!”

“Do you see what I have to put up with?” you said, turning around to Grillby in exasperation.

“You have met Nindree,” Grillby said simply, and you laughed. Fair enough.

“I, for one, approve!” Papa said before pulling you and Grillby into a tight hug, “My little moon and her bright spark!”

You squawked indignantly, wriggling in his grip, but felt the amusement rolling off of Grillby, the utter love and devotion from Papa, and the content delight from your Da and you quickly felt the spark of irritation dissolve, and you began laughing instead.

At least life with your family was never boring…and you were looking forward to seeing where life would take you now that Grillby was by your side.

**Author's Note:**

> So! Yeah! This is what might have happened if the war between monsters and humans never happened and a peace-treaty was made and everything was all good! 
> 
> Not canon to the Chasing The End story at all though.


End file.
